could use a little advice dealing with a Ford dealership about warranty work

[Barracudadan]

I just had to bring my 2011 F-150 back to the dealership with a dead battery. I purchased it about a year ago from a local Ford dealer with about 11 K miles on it and the balance of the 3 yr/36,000 mi warranty. Once in a while when the truck sits for a few days the charging system warning lights come on. I would drive for a bit and it eventually goes away. this has been going on for awhile especially in the cold weather but I didn`t address it untill now (that`s my fault for letting it go).
 This past Friday I took a trip to Boston and back with the family for me Boston is over 50 miles one way so it had a good drive. Saturday my truck sat in the driveway I didn`t use it and on Sunday it`s dead no lights nothing! I put a charge on it for a few hours and it started right up and I brought it back to my Ford dealer. The service manager says the battery checks out as good so he can`t just replace it since Ford will not credit the dealership for the battery if it isn`t defective. He also said my charging system is working properly and the battery is being charged and the truck doesn`t show anything draining the battery. So basically they didn`t fix the problem and don`t know what is wrong. My question to the service manager was since I now have 35104 miles on my truck and the problem hasn`t beeen fixed what happens when I go over the 36,000 mi warranty and the problem comes back since nothing has been fixed? He said I would have to fight it out with Ford! This is where I could use some advice on how to proceed with this. Thanks in advance for any help!

[HP_Cuda]

Let the car kill the battery but letting it sit for a day.

Call the dealership to come pickup your car and test the battery then.

Problem solved!

[Chryco Psycho]

can you only take it to one dealer ?

[jimynick]

Call the dealer and ask who the local zone Ford rep is; get his name and addresses (mail and email). Write a letter indicating the problem and the lack of response by the dealer (get the names of everyone you dealt with at the dealership) and your concerns regarding both the safety of your family and the upcoming mileage expiration of your warranty. Take a photo of the truck overall, the VIN sticker and the odometer and make sure they're all clear and legible and included in all correspondence. Send the letter registered mail (that way they have to sign for it and can't say they never got it in time or at all). After mailing the letter, call the zone rep and lay out your problem. He might just do the right thing and tell the dealer to find and fix the problem. If he seems to blow you off, ask for the name and address of the customer complaint agency in Ford and while you're at it, ask for the name and address of the VP of customer relations and the pres himself- that'll let him know that you're not some schmuck who'll just go away. Stay civil; getting mad and cussing the guy out will get you nowhere, but tenacity and the willingness to pursue this to the top will likely get you some attention for your problem. Don't forget to inform the dealer of your intention to report their treatment of your complaint to the Better Business Bureau, should they fluff you until you mile out. And finally, can you buy an extended warranty from the dealer before this one expires? Some things to think about, eh? 

[Barracudadan]

Thanks everyone for the replys. I`ve been civil so far and I understand where the service manager is coming from, but not fixing the problem is not an option for me. When I spoke to him yesterday I decided to leave it there another day and they will check it again I am waiting to hear back from them, that is where i`m at as of right now. I am trying to make some sort of paper trail on this so if I have to pursue it beyond the warranty period I have some proof. As far as the truck goes it is bone stock I have done nothing to it except for adding a remote start. It`s a Ford remote start that they put in themselves so thats on them too. I can`t complain about the truck it`s been decent so far this has been the only issue.

[ChallengerHK]

Two things. First, the fact that you've established a paper trail now will be a help to you, potentially, if the battery finally fails. Make sure you hang onto that paper work.

Second, did they load test the battery?

[Barracudadan]

Two things. First, the fact that you've established a paper trail now will be a help to you, potentially, if the battery finally fails. Make sure you hang onto that paper work.

Second, did they load test the battery?

Yes they did a load test, even stapled the results to my receipt. this is what it said: Battery Test, rated 7500 cca, good battery 12.75v,mode top-off charging AH:2.0,Charge time: 0:05.02, test codes DTC Code 09AJT 1K9J0 82 B

My receipt also says: Cust states had to jump veh. verify concern-none.test battery-ok test charging system-ok.check ssm/tsm-none. retry 2 more times,ok.
Cannot duplicate concern at this time
Warranty claim repair type - 11
customer concern code: C25
Condition Code:42

What all the codes mean I have no clue maybe someone here knows. I think i`ll let my truck sit for at least 3 days and then see what happens when I start it. Now that the battery supposedly checks out as good and the charging system is good as well what the heck can it be . Wish they could have identified the problem and fixed it before the warranty expires I guess that would be asking for too much! 

Maybe I should leave my lights on and say the batterys dead again! 

[Jamiez]

I'd wait for the battery to die, swap in a working one...drive to the dealership, park blocking the driveway and then swap the bad battery back in.

....

but I can be kinda a dick